The Baltimore Ravens and The One Love Foundation on Tuesday announced a partnership to employ a breakthrough new film curriculum to inspire and empower Maryland high school and college students to help lead in a nationwide effort to end relationship violence.

One Love is named in honor of Yeardley Reynolds Love, a Baltimore-area native and beloved member of the University of Virginia’s lacrosse team who was beaten to death by her ex-boyfriend just weeks before their graduation from the University of Virginia.

Advertisement

Related Content

Under the partnership, the Ravens will fund the Maryland roll out of Escalation, One Love's "eye-opening" feature film-based workshop curriculum that has earned rave reviews from young people and spurred them to seek change. The Ravens will also sponsor the launch of Team One Love throughout the state, a team-based initiative that follows up on Escalation and empowers students to spearhead movements for change in the dynamics of relationships among young people on their campuses.

"The Baltimore Ravens today are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with One Love in pursuit of an audacious goal: to inspire young people who are most at risk of relationship violence to take the lead in an effort to change the entire culture surrounding it. We will best honor Yeardley by helping the next generation deeply understand what relationship violence is, and by engaging them in a movement for change that we deeply believe will save lives," One Love Foundation CEO Katie Higgins Hood said.

"The Ravens recognize the power of education to drive change. We're proud to honor the memory of Yeardley Love by helping One Love to educate young people across Maryland about the risks of relationship violence and more important, to give them the tools they need to ignite a national conversation around it," said Dick Cass, president of the Baltimore Ravens.

Ravens' support to advance roll out of life-changing film and curriculum

The Ravens will provide funding for the Maryland roll out of the cornerstone of One Love’s efforts: Escalation, a highly innovative, research-driven film-based workshop that vividly depicts the escalating signs of relationship violence and creates a framework for students to understand how it starts, what it looks like, and where it can go. The film dramatically depicts a college relationship from the earliest, euphoric stages to a tragic end.

Pilot testing of the Escalation curriculum at seven universities in fall 2014 demonstrated the film’s power as a catalyst that inspires honest conversation and motivates young people to work for change. Both male and female students expressed that it should be required viewing by their peers because of its power and immediacy. One Love will roll out Escalation on college campuses nationally in 2015 with the goal of more broadly moving into high schools in the near future.

"Escalation has had an incredible impact in initial testing, and we are thrilled that Ravens support will make it possible to share with high school and college students across the state," Hood said. "Young people who see the film and participate in the workshop describe it as 'eye-opening' in terms of the signs they see every day but have never understood as risks, and invariably ask 'Wwhat can we do?'"

To answer that question, the Ravens’ support will also promote the expansion in Maryland of "Team One Love," a new initiative designed to harness the enthusiasm of students who have participated in Escalation and who have indicated a fierce desire to do something on their campuses and in their communities as a result. Team One Love will link campus-based teams in a national movement across the country working together for change. In addition to maximizing participation in the Escalation curriculum on their campuses, local teams will be challenged to pursue creative activities and initiatives to fully engage their peers in the movement to achieve a different set of statistics.

"What we want is nothing less than social change," said Sharon Love, Yeardley's mom and founder of One Love. "Relationship violence is far too common and young people do not realize that they, in particular, are at increased risk. One Love is dedicated to changing these statistics, and we believe that engaging young people is critical. Joining Team One Love is the first step a student can take to ignite the movement in his or her own community, moving one step closer to our shared goal, a future without relationship violence."

The Escalation curriculum is one element of One Love Foundation’s effort to use technology-based tools and campaigns to educate, motivate and activate young adults ages 16-24. Specifically, One Love has become a leader in developing compelling creative content that enable young people to recognize and respond to well-known risk factors that result in 1 in 3 American women experiencing abuse in a relationship at some point in their lives.

Schools interested in bringing Escalation and Team One Love to their campuses can contact Melanie Sperling, Program Coordinator, Educational Initiatives, at 1-844-TEAM-1LV, Melanie.sperling@joinonelove.org.